Improvement in wash-boilers



S. W. BARTHULUMEW.

Wash-Builers.

Patented June 24,1873.

pin/eaves 6 @a MMMQM AM. PHOTD-LITHOBRAPHIL on My (ossomvs's moans?UNITED STATES PATENT QFFICE.

SIDNEY W. BARTHOLOMEW, OF LOUISBURG, NORTH CAROLINA.

IMPROVEMENT IN WASH-BOILERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 140,238, dated June24,1873; application filed April 28, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, SIDNEY W. BARTHOL- oMEw, of Louisburg, in the countyof Franklin and State of North Carolina, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Wash-Boilers; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full and exact description of the same, reference being bad to theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specification, in which-Figure 1 is a sectional elevation; Fig.2, a

' bottom view of the false bottom; Fig. 3, a top view of the falsebottom; Figs. 4 and 5, sections through lines y y and w 00, Fig. 2.

Similar letters of reference in the accompanying drawings denote thesame parts.

This invention has for its object to effect the cleansing of clothes bythe action of a current of hot water circulating under steam pressurewithin a boiler, without the use of a wash-tub, washing-machine, or anymechanical means, save the automatic action of water and steam. -To thisend the invention consists in the combination with a boiler of a falsebottom, having a series of flanges forming labyrinthine passages on itsunder side, which present no obstacle to the flow of water from thespace beneath the false bottom upward to the clothes, but do prevent anyflow of the water backward away from the clothes, all which I will nowproceed to describe.

In the accompanying drawing, A is an ordinary boiler, having 'aclosely-fitting cover, B, which has escape-pipesG, for steam, so thatthe cover may not be blown off. D is the falsev bottom, the same havinga flange, E, projectin g downward from its under side, and extendingentirely around the bottom at the same distance from its edge. F is adiaphragm extending across the under side of the bottom D, at the middleof the same, and dividing the space inclosed by the flange E into twoequal parts, each of which parts is formed into a labyrinthine passageby means of a flange, F, proceeding in straight lines and at rightangles 00. The flanges E andF are of the same depth, so as to fit snuglyon the bottom of the boiler, and make water-tight passages. Holes G aremade in the false bottom at the center of each of the chambers formed bythe diaphragm F to which holesthe labyrinthine passages lead; Theseholes open into trunks I, fastened to to the top of the bottom D, fromwhich trunks pipes J extend upward, and receive on their tops pipes K,which are connected by a cylindrical perforated tube, L. At the middleof the bottom D two oblong orifices, M, are made, which open one intoeach of the labyrinthine passages aforesaid, above which holes is acover, N, elevated above bottom D on lugs 0. The bottom D is placedinside the boiler, and the latter filled at least one-third full. BoltsP are fitted to slide in the bottom D, and when thrust into holes in theinside of the boiler serve to hold the false bottom down. R are valveshung both on the same pivot, one at each side of the diaphragm F, and atthe middle of the bottom D. These valves swing in opposite directions,each one away from the adjacent orifice M. These valves are providedwith stops r, which arrest them when they assume a vertical position.

A fire having been kindled under the boiler after it has been suppliedwith water, and the space above the bottom D having been filled withclothes, as soon as the water becomes expanded by the heat suchexpansion closes the valves R and causes the water to proceed along thelabyrinthine passages. The steam generated by the heat, being preventedfrom ascending by the superincumbent mass of clothes, by its pressureforces the water away from the valves R in two opposite directions.

These currents ascend through the'holes G into the trunks I, and flowthence through the pipes J K into the perforated tube L, whence the hotwater escapes in streams upon the mass of clothes at each side andbeneath, and cleanses them as it percolates through them. This waterflows back into the space beneath the bottom D through the orifices M,and resumes its place in the circulation pass ing the valves It in orderto do so. It takes from thirty to forty minutes for the water,circulating in this way, to cleanse the clothes.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with the false bottom D, offlanges disposed on the under side of the same so as to form passages,having each an 3. The false bottom D, in combination with ingress, M,and an egress, G, and a valve, R, orifices GM, cover N, valves R, trunksI, pipes arranged substantially as described. J K, tube L, and boiler A,substantially as 2. The false bottom D, in combination with and for thepurpose explained. the valves R, flanges E F, forming labyrin thinepassages, trunks I, pipes ,J K, and con- Witnesses: necting-tube L,substantially as and for the purpose specified.

S. BARTHOLOME'W.

MELVILLE CHURCH, (J. F. BROWN.

